Returning Home
by AnimeFreak1123
Summary: Hitomi and Dio return to their home guild, Fairy Tail, to find it has changed since they left for a long journey. When they return, they are challenged once again by Natsu to battle him. Who will win this battle? Hitomi and Dio, or Natsu the fire breathing dragon slayer? OCxOC. One-Shot.


Earthland, a bountiful and beautiful world overflowing with magic. Much different than our own world because mages and otherworldly creatures as well as normal humans inhabit it. They all live together in peace (most of the time) and _try_ not to cause trouble for each other. Anyway, the focus of this story is on the mages, who come together to form guilds, where they take up jobs they can use their magic and abilities to finish and receive payment. There are good guilds and bad ones, but one certain guild stands out among the rest…

**Fairy Tail.**

One of the liveliest guilds that resides in Fiore and is the home to most of the mischievous mages that are rowdy (and cause trouble) on a regular basis. Despite its troublemaking members, to them it is the bond with their friends in the guild that matters most. We come to this guild today to see that Natsu's team was having a down day today…

"Lucy, you seem a little down. Are you okay?"

The blonde celestial spirit mage looked up from her meal to the kind smiling silver haired woman standing across the counter from her. She wore her bangs in a ponytail above her forehead and wore a somewhat frilly darkish red dress.

"I'm alright Mirajane; I'm just worried about how I'm going to pay my rent for this month." Lucy replied with a nervous smile.

Lucy wore some of her shoulder-length blond hair up in a side ponytail while the rest was down. She always dressed in style, wearing a blue and white sailor themed top without sleeves and a short blue skirt. She also wore her favorite pair of dark brown boots and around her waist was a brown belt, holding her whip and her collection of celestial spirit keys – two things she never left her home without.

"Oh my, you haven't gone on a job for a while now, have you? And Natsu has been restless for days…" Mirajane stated with surprise as she then trailed off in thought before something in her brain finally clicked. "I know now! We got word about someone coming back from a job today!"

"So Natsu has been waiting for them all this time?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Oh yes! You see, they leave for years at a time for jobs they've accepted and come every so often, and Natsu always looks forward to their return." Mirajane replied with a smile just as the doors to the main guild hall opened. "That must be them now."

As she turned to the doors to see who it was, Lucy wondered just who exactly 'they' were. She saw the lone figure standing there at the threshold and wondered why Mirajane was calling this one person 'them'. At any rate, she would have to wait and see to find out.

Many phrases including "Welcome back!" and "How was your journey?" were exchanged as the figure crossed the threshold and made their way to the counter. As the figure came closer, Lucy found that she had seen this woman's face before.

The traveler was about five feet four inches in height and currently wearing a long dark red cloak, concealing her clothes rather well, but her head was pretty much the only thing uncovered. From what Lucy could see, the female had long wavy brown hair in a half updo ponytail with her bangs left out. The bangs were rather long and slightly covered her icy blue colored eyes and on her right ear was a simple slim rectangle shaped dangly earring.

"Hey, you're…" Lucy stated with wonder as she realized who the female traveler was. "The Crystal Mage, Hitomi Mayonaka!"

The woman smiled warmly as she looked over to the blonde mage and said in reply, "That would be me. And you must be Lucy, one of the new members. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Hitomi sat down next to Lucy just as Mirajane was looking around the place.

"Are you looking for someone Mirajane?" Lucy asked curiously while the white haired mage gave up and sighed.

"As a matter of fact I am." She answered. "Where is Dio, Hitomi?"

The Crystal Mage jumped in her seat and started to fiddle with her fingers – something she usually did when she was upset or nervous.

"Well….I…." – she paused for a while as she took a deep breath – "I'm sorry Mirajane! I did it again!"

While Lucy was lost at what exactly they were talking about, the silver haired mage asked Hitomi to tell her what happened calmly. With a sad sigh and tears brimming, Hitomi brought a small dark brown bat out from within her cloak.

"Is that…Dio?" Lucy asked and that was the straw to break the camel's back. Suddenly Hitomi began to tear up, and tried her best to hold them back as she recounted the events that led up to how exactly Dio became a bat.

"Well, Dio and I were on our way back here on a train, and I was looking through a new spell book that I bought in the town we left from. I found one that I wanted to try out, and I accidentally recited it aloud and changed Dio into…this!" – she motioned towards the bat sleeping peacefully on the counter while Hitomi regained her ability to breathe – "I've tried everything I know to turn him back, but nothing works! I can't go out on jobs anymore if my partner is a bat forever!"

"Don't worry Hitomi, we'll find a way. I promise!" Mirajane consoled the sad crystal mage with a calm and warming smile. "Now why don't we start with the spell you used and see if it says anything else?

_Wow, Mirajane knows just what to do in situations like these. _Lucy marveled at the mage she held in such high esteem while Hitomi went fishing through her travel bag for the spell book she used. She flipped through the pages until she came to the spell she accidentally used on her partner and something caught her eye, so she said, "Hold on a moment," and continued reading down the page. Finally she looked up from the book, blushing and scratching her head with embarrassment, as she continued.

"Well, I guess I did everything _except_ look at the fine print… It says here that the spell should wear off in a few hours, so it should wear off soon."

Noticing the concerned look that Hitomi began to give to her partner-turned-bat, Lucy stated with slight curiosity, "You seem to care a lot for your partner."

After ordering a cup of Earl Grey tea and taking off her cloak, Hitomi turned to Lucy with a warm smile on her face. Hitomi seemed to have a little fashion sense too, because she was wearing a short deep blue tank top dress under a black corset with tails on the back (like a butler's). On her arms were blue sleeves that were wide at the wrists and had ribbon tied at the tops. She also wore greyish black tights under knee-high dark blue high heeled boots. Around her waist was a small bag on a belt, probably meant for her crystal summoning cards.

"Of course I do. We grew up together here." Hitomi answered, nostalgia reflecting in her eyes. "Besides, what woman in their right mind wouldn't care about her fiancé?"

For a moment the small area around Hitomi was silent with surprise. Finally Mirajane clapped her hands with joy and said, "Oh my! So then he…"

"Oh yes, he did!" the crystal mage answered with glee, showing off her left hand and sure enough, there was a simple diamond ring on her ring finger. "We took a detour after our job and he proposed to me there! I'm the happiest women alive!" – she paused, frowning a bit – "Of course, not now… I really need to stop reading spells aloud!"

She began to get all worked up again until she noticed the bat stirring on the counter and excused herself so she could tell her partner what had happened to him. For a few minutes she was gone and soon Lucy saw her emerge from a room in the back, followed by a young man a little older than her.

He was about a head taller than Hitomi, with short spikeyish golden blond hair, his bangs slightly covering his caramel brown colored eyes. He wore a long dark red sleeveless turtleneck with tails at the back and tight black pants with dark grey shoes. On his left ear was the match to the earring that Hitomi was wearing and on his hands were black fingerless gloves.

"I'm really sorry Dio!" Hitomi kept on saying over and over as the two of them made their way to the counter and sat down. "And I promise never to read another spell aloud!"

_Who knew that someone who looks so great in the __Weekly Sorcerer__ would also act like this? _Lucy thought with wonder as Hitomi's partner continued to console her. It goes to show that no one is as they seem in the magazines…

"It's okay Hitomi. It wasn't your entire fault." Her fiancé stated in response after they had sat down.

"I'm so glad that you're so forgiving." Hitomi said with love in her eyes and a genuine smile on her face.

Just as the blonde elemental mage was about to ask where Natsu was at that moment, the rambunctious rose hair colored dragon slayer made his entrance and made his way straight to Dio.

"Hey, Dio and Hitomi are finally here! How was your trip?" he exclaimed with excitement. "Are you up for a sparring session? Two on one! Right now!"

"Now?" Dio asked as he rubbed the back of his neck in thought. "I'm still recovering from the mishap on the way back home…"

For a moment Natsu was confused, and eventually his gaze turned to Hitomi. She explained reluctantly and all was clear to the fire breathing dragon slayer. He decided to let them relax the rest of the afternoon, but set the time for their sparring session for tomorrow at dusk.

All the while through this small exciting scene, Lucy was smiling with a little trouble because of Natsu's eagerness after the couple had come back from a long trip.

The next day at dusk, Hitomi and Dio were well rested and ready to spar. Across the way, Natsu and Happy were stretching and getting ready for their battle. When they were all ready, Hitomi and Dio paused a moment.

"I'm surprised you made a battle area when you remodeled the whole guild building." Hitomi commented with slight surprise as she gazed around the area, seeing a few familiar faces around them, eager to see how far the two mages had come in the past year.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Dio asked while Hitomi made her first selection from her crystal card deck to use. "We did gain new abilities over the past year."

Natsu laughed loudly and said in reply, "So did I, so let's battle!"

The dragon slayer was the first to run forward to attack. Dio stepped forward while Hitomi edged back with a few cards in her hand, ready to back him up. Natsu chose to use his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist as his first attack, aiming to punch at Dio, but the older mage was one step ahead.

"I knew you were going to use that move first." He stated with a smirk as he blanketed his hand with water and moved it forward to block the attack.

However, it was a farce and on the way to getting to Dio, Natsu changed his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist into his Fire Dragon's Wing attack. The elemental mage looked surprised for a moment, then quickly regained his composure and ducked out of the way for his backup to do her thing. Hitomi brought out a crystal card from the cards in her hand and summoned, "Sapphire Water Cannon!" and a giant hand cannon, sparkling like a sapphire, appeared in her hands. She shot a splurge of water at the dusky rose colored dragon mage, but he quickly dodged to the side. Quickly Hitomi maneuvered out of the way for Dio's turn.

As the battle was going on, Lucy watched with surprise at how Hitomi and Dio worked together. Not only were they very close, but the way they battled was like a flowing river. They were giving each other the opportunity for both defense and offense. So this was partly why the two of them were featured in the magazine…

The battle continued much the same, attacking and dodging, until Dio decided to step back and let Hitomi take the battle for a while. She was using up her water based crystal cards fast, and Dio was just standing there, concentrating on what seemed like nothing in particular. Before the time came, Lucy realized he wasn't just standing there, he was actually gathering his energy for a final attack.

Hitomi had used her final water based card and turned to Dio asking, "Are we ready for the final attack?" and he nodded, gesturing for Hitomi to move over.

She dodged quickly to the side and suddenly out of nowhere came a gigantic wave, splashing behind Dio but going nowhere just yet. Natsu was getting ready for his final attack too, his Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar. They both let their attacks go and as the wave crashed around them, it started to freeze everything except Dio. The other guild members started to run, not wanting to get caught in the electrifying frozen waves.

When the battle had ended, all came back to where Natsu and Dio were standing. Natsu was trapped in a frozen block of ice, his head free but the rest of his body was stuck. Dio was hunched over and holding his shoulders. Hitomi ran over to him and asked him what happened.

"It seems Natsu got to me before I got him…" Dio stuttered with trouble before wincing with pain. "He's gotten pretty good I'll give him that…"

"No more talking Dio." Hitomi suggested with worry, seeing that him trying to move was giving him more pain. "We need to heal you first."

She did so and Dio proceeded to help free Natsu. When they had all finished, it was night time and most of the guild members had gone home. It was now time to go back home, but before that, Dio and Natsu had agreed that the battle was somewhat a draw.

"So what are you going to do now?" Natsu asked the two he had battled.

The couple looked at each other with smiles on their faces and looked back at Natsu, "We were actually planning on settling down for a while and starting a family." Hitomi said.

Natsu looked at the both of them, confused for a moment, and then a smile appeared on his face as he said, "So you're together now? That's great! I can't wait to play with your kids!" This statement made the couple blush and Natsu laughed with excitement before telling the couple goodnight and leaving.

Hitomi giggled as she saw the dragon slayer run off towards her house and said, "That Natsu… He's so filled with energy…"

"It's him and the other young ones who hill continue to fill the guild's walls with excitement." Dio stated with a smile before facing his fiancée. "Let's go home."

**And that's a beautiful end to a wonderful Fairy Tail one-shot. At least, I hope you FT fans will like it. This is actually a kind of filler for my Fairy Tail fix until I can read the manga again. Ever since I moved back to the states, I haven't been able to read much manga on my grandpa's computer. I have been reading Bleach though. No one stops me from reading my Bleach each week! But I'll have a lot of Fairy Tail and other manga to catch up on…Anyway, I hope you Fairy Tail fans enjoy this little one-shot!**

**Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima.**

**Hitomi and Dio belong to me**


End file.
